Welcome

Welcome to the POZ/AIDSmeds Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and
others concerned about HIV/AIDS. Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the
conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning: Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive
and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a
username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own
physician.

All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators
of these forums. Click here for “Am I Infected?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ/AIDSmeds community forums.

We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please
provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are
true and correct to their knowledge.

Finished Reading This? You can collapse this or any other box on this page by clicking the
symbol in each box.

Welcome to Am I Infected

IMPORTANT UPDATE
Posted Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Welcome to the "Am I Infected?" POZ forum.

New members -- those who have posted three or fewer messages -- are permitted to post questions and responses, free of charge (make them count!). Ongoing participation in the "Am I Infected?" forum -- posting more than three questions or responses -- requires a paid subscription.

A seven-day subscription
is $9.99, a 30-day subscription is $14.99 and a 90-day subscription is $24.99.

Anyone who needs to post more than three messages in the "Am I Infected?" forum -- including past, present and future POZ Forums members -- will need to subscribe, with
secure payments made via PayPal.

There will be no charge to continue reading threads in the
"Am I Infected?" forum, nor will there be a charge for participating
in any of the Main Forums; Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits; and Off Topic
Forums. Similarly, all POZ and AIDSmeds pages,
including our "How is HIV
Transmitted?" and "Am I Infected? (A
Guide to Testing for HIV)" lessons, will remain accessible to
all.

NOTE: HIV testing questions will still need to be posted in the "Am I
Infected?" forum; attempts to post HIV symptoms or testing questions in any other forums will be considered violations of our rules of membership and subject to time-outs and permanent bans.

To learn how to upgrade your Forums account
to participate beyond three posts in the "Am I Infected?" Forum, please click here.

Thank you for your understanding
and future support of the best online support service for people living with,
affected by and at risk for HIV.

Author
Topic: I am worried (Read 5620 times)

First, let me congratulate the good people of this board for their amazing work.

My story... Well, with my girlfriend who had one relationship before (in which unprotected sex happened) I did several things:

- She caressed my penis and put her hand around it- I carressed her (wet) vagina and went in with one finger- We 'dryhumped' (but with clothes on)- I kissed and licked her breasts (and nipples)- We slept together, holding each other (just sleeping, no sex)

Now, I know that in itself all these acts are considered safe. However, 4 weeks after this happened I got a flu that lasted more than a week (muscular pain, high fever etc.). Of course this is not an indicator - or not necessarily - of an infection but I am quite worried. Have I reason to? I am aware of the fact that there is a difference between a theoretical risk and a real risk (e.g. having unprotected sex)... But on the other hand I hear so much that until today it is not proven that anything else than unprotected sex (without of course infected needles, blood etc.) can cause HIV. But what about, let's say, used sex toys, if HIV can survive on these, why couldn't it on a hand? So... can't it be that infected people - who also had intercourse - got the disease by, let's say exchanging bodily fluids without having sex (e.g. masturbating a penis with a hand lubricated by the vagina)? It can be assumed in this case that the infection was transmitted by sex, but is this proven?

Get a grip. You have not had a risk for hiv infection. Hiv is not transmittable from sex toys or hands. Hiv is transmitted through UNPROTECTED anal or vaginal intercourse and that's it. Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently and you will avoid hiv infection. IT REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE!!!

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Get a grip. You have not had a risk for hiv infection. Hiv is not transmittable from sex toys or hands. Hiv is transmitted through UNPROTECTED anal or vaginal intercourse and that's it. Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently and you will avoid hiv infection. IT REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE!!!

Ann

Dear Ann,

ok.

The CDC however states that:

Hands and other parts of the body should be washed immediately after contact with blood or other body fluids,...(to avoid infection)

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Hello, just this post to prove that I am not that crazy. Actually, when I was writing my first post I still had a flu, but I didn't want to make it sound too dramatic.

In fact, it was quite serious: all in all I have been ill for 3-4 weeks, with high fever, swollen glands, lowering of the blood placelets, hightened coagulation risk, feeling exhausted, faryngitis, swollen spleen, liver infammation etc.

Anyway, did she infect me? The answer is probably yes (although it can't be known with 100% certainty)Did she infect me with HIV? No, it was Epstein-Barr

Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result orno-risk situation, will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). If you continue to post excessively after one Time Out, you may be given a second Time Out which will last eight weeks. There is no third Time Out - it is a permanent ban. The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.

I masturbated a girl who was not having her period. However, after she had an orgasm, there was blood on my hands (to my surprise) - not just a bit of blood but much blood. I can't remember exactly if my blood-covered hands touched (accidentally) my mouth or genitalia.

■Please do not start a new thread every time you have another question or thought - regardless if you think your questions are related to each other or not. It helps us to help you when you keep all your thoughts or questions in one thread and it helps other readers to follow the discussion. Additional threads will be merged.■If you cannot find your thread, click on the "Show own posts" link in the left-hand column of any forum page, under your name.

Jojo, I have merged your threads here. It's a rule of the site for members to write only in the same thread. Thanks for your cooperation.

It wouldn't matter if the blood touched your mouth or genitalia. HIV is a fragile virus and absolutely is not passed in that manner. The only confirmed means of transmitting HIV sexually are through unprotected vaginal and anal intercourse. Use condoms properly everytime for those activities and you will be well protected.

■Please do not start a new thread every time you have another question or thought - regardless if you think your questions are related to each other or not. It helps us to help you when you keep all your thoughts or questions in one thread and it helps other readers to follow the discussion. Additional threads will be merged.■If you cannot find your thread, click on the "Show own posts" link in the left-hand column of any forum page, under your name.

A question which is not directly related (but still has to do with STD's): is receiving oral gratification dangerous for other STD's (herpes, chlamydia...)?

Absolutely.

Logged

"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

Well, that's quite uncomforting... Then millions of people are daily at risk

As it has been through the ages.

Logged

"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

■Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result, orno-risk situation will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). If you continue to post excessively after one Time Out, you may be given a second Time Out which will last eight weeks. There is no third Time Out - it is a permanent ban. The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.

■Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result, orno-risk situation will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). If you continue to post excessively after one Time Out, you may be given a second Time Out which will last eight weeks. There is no third Time Out - it is a permanent ban. The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.

Hello. Can you explain please why my rather general question is considered as being an excessive post? Thank you...

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

I do not want to sound like a hypochondriac of some sorts. But I think this disease is too important to overlook every possible risk. I am fully aware that oral sex is considered as only a theoretical risk situation for HIV, I read the lessons etc. Furthermore, I know that there is a lot of conflicting information circulating on the internet concerning this topic. Not many sources are truly reliable. However, how can one state that oral sex contains only a theoretical risk and that no case ever was documented of HIV transmission (for the "receiver") if the figures of the CDC say something else...?

The table you reference is from a stusy that was disproved several years ago.

The researchers actually made up the last number in order to round out the averages. Because in the history of the pandemic, not a single documented case of getting HIV from receiving a blowjob exists. Therefore one can NOT quantify the statistics for such an event.

In addition, that study was done long before there were serodiscordant studies, and relied purely on patient report after infection - which has been shown time and again to be notoriously unreliable.

In short, it's trash science. As to why the CDC maintains that page, you'd have to ask them. I do believe that the fact that it's a governmental agency with a superimposed political agenda has a lot to do with it.

That's why we scrutinize the science itself here, the actual studies instead of parroting tables and graphs liften from other sites like some people. Doubtless you will notice that the CDC links to sites which contain even more disquieting, inaccurate information.

I am always amazed that people assume we don't know about that study, the CDC's official stances, and their unwillingness to scrub their site of obsolete information.

You will not get HIV from receiving a blowjob.

Nor by kissing.

Nor from the actual things you mentioned in your original post.

Logged

"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

@ Jkinatl2: thank you for your information, it helped alot. Strange that an institute such as the CDC lowered itself to such non-scientific (pseudoscientifical) practices. They should indeed ban this from their site. @ Rapidrod/Andy Velez: Sorry that I posted this, but it was not just "any" other website, it was the CDC... that's why I was worried.I gracefully accept the warning and shan't post anymore on this topic.